Damper-plate for car-bolsters.



P. S. TOENNESEN.

DAMPER PLAIE FOR CAR BOLSTE RS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3.19M.

Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

PETER S. TOEN'NESEN, F EVERETT, MASSACHUSETTS.

DAMPER-PLATE FOR CAR-BOLSTERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

Application filed May 3, 1917. Serial No. 166,140.

scription, in connection with the accompany1ng drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to car trucks of the character ordinarily used for street railway and similar service.

It is now a very common practice to use in car trucks of this type what ordinarily is known in the trade as a swing bolster that is, a bolster supported at its opposite ends on springs which are carried by hangers mounted pivotally on the truck frame so that the bolster may have both an up and down movement and an endwise movement relatively to the frame. The car body, of course, rests on the bolster and the up and down movement relieves the shock caused by going over an obstruction or a piece of rough track, this shock being sustained by the springs, while the endwise movement relieves the shock that otherwisewould be produced when the car takes a curve. It is obviously desirable to avoid stopping this endwise movement of the bolster too abruptly and for this purpose it is a common practice to use a damper mechanism of some kind; that is, a mechanism arranged between the bolster and the truck frame to check or offer a yielding resistance to the.

endwise movement of the bolster.

The present invention is concerned particularly with damper mechanisms of the general character above designated, and it is the chiefobject of the invention to devise a thoroughly practical mechanism of this I type which can be cheaply manufactured and easily installed and repaired. It is highly desirable that a damper mechanism shall olfer less resistance to small endwise movements of the bolster than to movements of greater amplitude, and it is an object of the present invention to devise a damper mechanism which will satisfy this requirement.

The manner in which it is proposed to accomplish these and other objects of the invention will be readily understood from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying which Figure 1 is a plan view of part of a car truck equipped with a dampening mechanism embodying this invention in the form now preferred by me;

F 1g. 2 is a vertical, cross sectional view pakendsubstantially on the line 22 of Fig.

an Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the more important parts of the damper mechanism on a somewhat larger scale.

The truck frame may be of any suitable construction, that shown having side frame pieces 2 connected by a pair of transom bars 4. The frame is provided with two plvoted hangers, one of which is shown at 6, and these hangers support elliptic springs 8, upon which the opposite ends of the bolster 10 rest. The bolster, of course, may be of any desired type, that shown being of a truss form. One end of the car rests on a bolster plate 12, which is mounted on the bolster 10. This construction is substan tially like that of the usual swing bolster.

The damper mechanism shown comprises two pairs of damper plates, mounted respectively at opposite sides of the'bolster 10, each pair consisting of a spring plate 14 secured to the side of the bolster and a chafe plate 16 secured rigidly to the truck frame in position for its cooperating spring plate to bear against it. The construction of these plates is best shown in Fig. 3, from which it will be seen that the middle portion of the spring plate 14 is bolted rigidly to the bolster near the bolster plate 12, and at each side of this middle portion it is provided with two outwardly curved parts a. The ends of this plate are free. The plates 14 may conveniently be made of spring steel or some similar material. Each chafe plate 16 has its ends bolted to one of the transom bars 4 and is shaped as best shown in Fig. 3, to provide depressed seats 6, which normally receive the portions a of the plates 14. These depressions are, roughly speaking, complementary to the spring portions a. The spring platesnormally are slightly spaced from the chafe plates or bear only lightly against the chafe plates so that they offer no appreciable resistance to the up and down movement oftlrie bolster 10; but when the bolster starts to move endwise in either direction away from its central position relatively to the truck frame, -the outwardly drawings, in

curved parts a of the springs let ride up on the inclined walls of the depressed portion 3) of their respective chafe plates 16 and thus resist or check yieldingly the outward movement of the bolster. It is obvious that the resistance thus offered by the damper plates 1% and 16 to the outward movement of the bolster will increase very rapidly as the bolster moves away from its central position in either direction, so that any great endwise movement of the bolster will be very strongly opposed by the damper plates, while a small movement of the bolster will be only lightly opposed. It will also be evident from an inspection of the construction shown in the drawings that the damper plates will tend to return the bolster to itscentral position as soon as it has made any substantial movement away from that position.

The chafe plates 16 may be made of a softer metal than the spring plate 16, and in order to provide for the convenient repair of this mechanism, the chafe plates are secured to the transom bars by bolts, inserted from the outer sides of said bars as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that the bolts may be removed without taking the truck apart. The worn chafe plate may then be dropped downwardly out of place and new one substituted for it. This ability to replace a worn part of the damper mechanism conveniently is a matter of great practical advantage since it is now' necessary we take the truck apart in order to replace a worn part of many of the damper devices in use.

Instead of applying the damper plates to the truck at substantially the middle portion of thebolster, as above described, a slightly different form of damper plates may be used and two sets may be applied at each end of the bolster. This construction is shownin the lower part of Fig. 1 in which two spring plates 18, each constructed substantially like half of one of the plates 14, are secured to the transom bars 4.-4r at opposite points, and they cooperate respectively with chafe plates 20 secured to opposite sides of the bolster 10. These chafe plates 20 are each shaped substantially like a half of one of the plates 16. These two pairs of plates, of course, co-

operate With each other in the same way as do, the plates 14 and 16; and by securing them at the opposite ends of the bolster they not only serve the purpose of damper plates but also take the place of rub or wear plates with which bolsters ordinarily are provided at these points. If desired the spring plates may, of course, be bolted to the bolster and the chafe' plates may be secured to the transoms.

Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a car truck, the combination with a truck frame and a bolster mounted trans versely therein for both vertical and endwise movement, of cooperating plates rigidly secured respectively to said frame and bolster and operative to check yieldingly said endwise movement without interfering normally with said vertical movement.

2. In acar truck, the combination with a truck frame and a bolster mounted transversely therein for both vertical and endwise movement, of a rigid plate and a spring plate rigidly secured, one to said frame and the other to said bolster, and constructed and arranged to check yieldingly the endwise movement of said bolster but arranged to avoid interfering normally with the vertical movement of said bolster.

3. In a car truck, the combination with a truck frame and a bolster mounted transversely therein for both vertical and endwise movement, and a pair of damper plates on each side of said bolster, each pair comprising a rigid plate and a spring plate secured, one to said frame and the other to said bolster, the plates of each pair being shaped to cooperatewith each other in checking the endwise movement of said bolster, but permitting. normally the free vertical movement of said bolster.

4:". In a car truck, the combination with a truck frame and a bolster mounted transversely therein for both vertical and endwise movement, of means between said bolster and frame for yieldingly checking said endwise movement, said means comprising a rigid plate and a spring plate secured, one to said frame andv the other to said bolster, said spring plate having an outwardly curved part and said rigid plate having a seat normally opposite said curved portion, and having inclined walls against which said curved part bears when said bolster moves endw'is'e.

5. In a car truck, the combination with a truck frame and a bolster mounted transv'ersely' therein for both vertical and endwise movement, of means between said bolster and frame for yieldingly checking said endwis'e movement, said means comprising a rigid plate and a spring plate secured, one to said frame and the other to said bolster, said spring plate having an outwardly curved part and said rigid plate having a seat normally opposite said curved portion, said plates being constructed and positioned to avoid offering normally and substantial resistance to the up and down movement of said bolster.

6.111 a car truck, the combination with a truck frame and a bolster mounted transversely therein for both vertical and endwise movement, said frame including transombars between which the bolster is'mounted, of damper mechanism between said bolster and said bars including spring means constructed and arranged to resist endwise movement of the bolster with a force increasing automatically with the outward movement of the bolster in either direction.

7. In a car truck, the combination with a truck frame and a bolster mounted transversely therein for both vertical and endwise movement, of damper mechanism between said bolster and frame including a device secured rigidly to said frame and another device rigidly secured to said bolster and positioned at the side of said bolster, said devices being constructed and arranged to cooperate with each other to resist endwise movement of said bolster in either direction with a force increasing gradually as the bolster moves outward away from its central position.

8. In a car truck, the combination with a truck frame and a bolster mounted transversely therein for both vertical and end wise movement, of a pair of spring members secured rigidly to opposite sides of said bolster, two chafe plates secured rigidly to said frame opposite said respective springs, said spring members having outwardly curved parts and said plates having inclined walls up which said outwardly curved parts travel when the bolster moves endwise.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

PETER S. TOENNESEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D (1. 

